POSTCOLONIAL MASQUERADING: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF MASQUERADING STRATEGIES IN THE ARTWORKS OF CONTEMPORARY SOUTH AFRICAN VISUAL ARTISTS ANTON KANNEMEYER, TRACEY ROSE, MARY SIBANDE, SENZENI MARASELA AND NANDIPHA MNTAMBO SHARLENE KHAN Goldsmiths, University of London PhD in Art 2014 DECLARATION I declare and undertake that all material presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part, by any other person(s). I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I present for examination. Signed: …………………………… Date: ……………………………… 2 DEDICATION For Gule, Asfour and myself 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission and Canon Collins Trust for the Commonwealth scholarship that allowed me three years of uninterrupted study time. Sandy Balfour, you’re an amazing person and part of the wonderful memories we have of London. My sincere thanks for copy-editing this thesis. Thanks to the National Arts Council of South Africa for funding towards this PhD. Thank you to my supervisor, Andrea Phillips, for challenging my thoughts, for encouraging me, and efficiently dealing with all scholarship requirements. My partner Fouad Asfour – editor, uncredited camera-man, researcher, chef, counsellor, comedian. My sojourn to London was made all the better for having him share it with me. Thank you to artists Ayana Vellisia Jackson, Mary Sibande, Senzeni Marasela, Nandipha Mntambo and Tracey Rose for giving me time out of their hectic schedules in different parts of the world and answering my questions generously. I am grateful to the written contributors of my artist's catalogue: Fouad for layout of the catalogue as well, Peace Kiguwa (who directed me to articles on Critical Whiteness Studies), Nicola Lauré al-Samarai, Yvette Greslé and, especially Betty Govinden, the woman who introduced me to black feminism, and still engages and challenges my thoughts around it. Khwezi Gule, my friend, who entertained many long discussions about these issues for many years prior to this degree. I salute his courage in speaking out about racially problematic representations when it would have been far more beneficial for him not to. Respect. Joo Yeon Park, fellow student and friend throughout these three years. She helped me navigate Goldsmiths when I was a fish-out-of-water and then still stuck with me when I chose to remain one. To call such a talented artist my friend is also an honour. Dina Ligaga, beloved friend, who directed me to Hutcheon’s work on parody and then read a draft of this thesis despite her own hectic life. Grace Musila, a sister in struggle and intellectual pursuits, who always lives up to her name. Brima van Niekerk, Dee Marco and Andre van Niekerk for being awesome friends and 4 reading drafts of this thesis at critical points. Special thanks to Seun Olatoye for her friendship, laughter, and proofreading of my work for my upgrade. My radical feminist friend, Akanksha Mehta, for returning books for me and allowing me to hijack her to watch my videos. Sabitha TP who gave me probably the most helpful crit of my practical work early on in this PhD, which allowed me insight into my own work when I was in desperate need of it. I would also like to thank Katty, Dyi, Chinedu, Sarah, Terese and Yvette for their discussions on my work and for sharing their own experiences with me. Onthatile Modise, Lebohang Kganye, Motlabana Monnakgotla, Jerry Gaegane and Nelmarie du Preez for their time and laughter shooting No Place. Nella also assisted me with much of my video editing initially and helped me get started on doing my own. She also graciously proofread my work for the upgrade. Sara Ahmed whose scholarship on 'being the problem' and 'the killjoy' made a huge difference to me psychically and emotionally. Her words were balm to my soul and I want to thank her for the courage of her scholarship. She and John Cussans' input at my upgrade were invaluable. Denis-Constant Martin, a generous intellectual, who sent me a copy of his book on the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival when I couldn’t obtain one. The wonderful Katarina Pierre, Director of the Bildmuseet, who allowed me full access to the retrospective exhibition of Tracey Rose in 2011. Miss PP gave us a place to stay in mid-2012 when we in a state of unhomeliness – it was without doubt the most generous offer that anyone has ever made to us. Goldsmiths library staff that was always extremely helpful in every regard. A nod to the Goldsmiths photography lab and woodwork workshop (Mic) who gave much needed technical assistance and advice. Goodenough College, my home for two years in central London – every minute was special. A special thanks to Caroline Persaud and Mandy Backhouse for all their help in assisting us with our living arrangements and not forcing us to move at critical junctures during this PhD process. 5 Last, but not least, my family who have never understood what I do but have never allowed this to stop them from giving me unconditional support and love. My strength, my voice and my ability to see things in a different way come from my parents. To my God and my saviour Jesus Christ, the beginning and end of my strength and my wisdom, I give praise, honour, glory and eternal thanks for all the people you have put in my path and the strength to complete this dream. 6 ABSTRACT This thesis analyses the masquerading strategies employed in the artworks of contemporary South African visual artists Anton Kannemeyer, Tracey Rose, Senzeni Marasela, Mary Sibande and Nandipha Mntambo. Masquerading, in this context, refers to the donning of costumes, make-up and the use of props, in staging one’s own body before the camera lens. This study examines contemporary debates in South Africa around such visual art masquerading performances which have questioned notions of identity, autobiography and memory. The first chapter plots the reactivation of blackface masquerades in artwork by young White South African artists, and examines the mechanisms of parodic humour and joke-work in accessing inhibited pleasure through racial stereotypes. The second chapter explores psychoanalytic (Western, black and African), feminist and postcolonial theories on masquerading, and looks at the concepts of mimicry, masking, repetition, and violence as markers of this terrain. The works of Frantz Fanon and Homi K. Bhabha are used to explore racial power relations, but also the possibilities of masquerading as subversive of authorised knowledge in postcolonial contexts. Bhabha’s ideas of mimicry-as-mockery, hybridity and ambivalence, as well as black feminist ideas of creative theorisation, are used to frame the masquerading strategies of the four South African women-of-colour artists under discussion in the third chapter, which demonstrates how Rose, Marasela, Sibande and Mntambo engage masquerade as an analytic tool to centralise women-of-colour narratives and personal politicisation as starting points of theorisation. This research attempts to evidence the concept of ‘postcolonial masquerading’ as an important critical aesthetic tool in black feminist and decolonialising discourses in postcolonial societies. My own practical video engagements employ postcolonial masquerading to interrogate my identity as a South African Indian woman visual artist, actively exploring strategies of mimicry, masking, repetition and ambivalence as tools to voice my subjective position and history framed by apartheid, post-apartheid and postcoloniality. 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration ...............................................................................................................................2 Dedication ................................................................................................................................3 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................4 Abstract ....................................................................................................................................7 Table of Contents .....................................................................................................................8 List of Illustrations .................................................................................................................. 10 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 18 Visual Arts Masquerading in South Africa .................................................................................. 21 Identity in Post-apartheid South Africa ...................................................................................... 23 Post-colonial Spaces and Decolonial Aesthesis .......................................................................... 27 Postcolonial Masquerading as a Creative Critical Analytic Tool ................................................ 30 Chapter One: Touching and Fondling the Black Body – the Contemporary Significance of South African Visual Artist Anton Kannemeyer’s Blackface Sign ....................................................... 34 The Development of the US Blackface Sign ............................................................................... 37 Deurmekaar – Blackface in the Cape Town Minstrel Festival .................................................... 41 The Reactivation of Blackface in South African